Mission Statement
“Astoria Picture Show empowers the next generation of visual storytellers through accessible education, hands-on production experience, and community celebration of moving images.”
Vision Statement
“A thriving coastal community where every young person has the tools, training, and platform to tell their story — and where visual storytelling drives economic opportunity, cultural expression, and civic engagement.”
What We Actually Believe
Access matters more than prestige.
Film education shouldn’t require money, connections, or geography. If you’re a teenager in Astoria with a story to tell, you deserve the same tools and training as someone in Los Angeles. If you’re a filmmaker in Clatsop County with a good project, you deserve support. We’re here to close those gaps, not celebrate that they exist.
Cinema is for paying attention.
The best films don’t tell you how to feel — they show you something and trust you to respond. We program, teach, and fund from that belief. We’re less interested in message than in texture, honesty, and the strange specific truth of a well-observed moment.
Community is the whole point.
A film festival that disappears after four days isn’t a cultural institution — it’s an event. The APS Film School and is the foundation. The festival is the celebration. Together, they’re something that actually belongs to Astoria.
Joy is serious business.
We deliberately program films that choose life. That doesn’t mean easy or uncomplicated — it means films that believe looking closely at the world is worth doing. That curiosity is a form of hope. We take that seriously.
Organizational Information
Astoria Picture Show is a registered 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization in the state of Oregon.